right now on "andrea mitchell reports" critics corner susan rice's three inquisitors challenge her explanation on benghazi. >> it is clear that the information that she gave the american people was incorrect when she said that it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful video. >> my belief is, not only is the information bad, and i'm more convinced than ever that it was bad, it was unjustified. to give the scenario as presented by ambassador rice and president obama. three weeks before an election. >> ambassador rice said today absolutely it was wrong. i don't understand the cia said clearly that information was wrong. and they knew by the 22nd it was

wrong. yet, they have not cleared that up with the american people. >> in a statement just now, susan rice admits that the initial information about a protest in benghazi was incorrect, but says no one intended to mislead the public. business as usual, congress is back and picks up just where it left off. stalemated over tax rates and entitlement spending. >> unfortunately, there's one obstacle standing between congress and compromise, grover norquist. for years, norquist has bullied lawmakers willing to put their oath of office or promise to serve constituents ahead of their pledge to this anti-tax zell lot. >> the washington democrats, every dollar that's ever been secured for anything is sacred. every dollar secured for anything is sacred. and they'll defend it to the death regardless of what it means for jobs, or the economy. coming up here, the it's top economic adviser alan krueger.

clashes in cairo today, more protests in tahrir square against egypt's president morsi. we'll have a live report. move over george clooney the on yan's kim junge un the sexiest man alive and beijing doesn't get the joke. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. no joke today on capitol hill. ambassador susan rice's attempt to clear the air with republicans over benghazi did not work as the white house had hoped. senators mccain, ayotte and graham say they have more questions than they had before rice's comments about benghazi. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get it. >> if you don't know what happened just say you don't know what happened. people can push you to give explanations and you can say i don't want to give bad information. >> that's troubling to me as

well, why she wouldn't have asked, i'm the person that doesn't know anything about this, i'm going on every single show. >> joining me now for our daily fix, chris cizilla, msnbc contributor managing editor of post politics.com and our own nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. well, this was pretty tense. chris, first to you. you've seen a lot of confirmation battles. this really did seem like an escalation, a warning shot. >> maybe they come out of this and say, look, we still kind of disagree with the way this played out but the explanations that ambassador rice gave us helped us understand. instead, what we got coming out of it was, as you point out, i think, an upping of the ante, all three of those senators, ayotte, graham and mccain, all saying we're more troubled today than we were yesterday about susan rice and her role in the immediate aftermath of benghazi.

one thing i would note, andrea, in the press conference afterward that you showed clips of, reporters to their credit repeatedly asked, so would you not vote to confirm her as secretary of state. would you not vote to confirm her as secretary of state. they dodged that question and didn't answer that question. so while it may look sort of bleak right now if you're a susan rice ally i'm not sure we should draw too many conclusions because you don't have hard nos coming out of these three. >> but they did get themselves out on a limb that's hard to get back off of. this statement from susan rice issued from the state department within the hour in the course of the meeting we explained that the talks points provided by the intelligence community and the initial assessment upon which they were based were incorrect in key respect, there was no protest or demonstration in benghazi. while we certainly wish we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. we stress neither i or anyone

else in the administration intended to mislead the american people at any stage in this process and the administration updated congress and the american people as our assessments evolved. now she had with her the acting director of the cia and that was significant, kelly. is that enough to persuade the senators and now we understand she'll have a meeting today with senator lieberman. >> and back again tomorrow. >> is it enough? apparently not. part of the reason you're seeing the intense questioning, they've heard from david petraeus who said he knew from almost the immediate aftermath this was a terrorist attack and ta was a working intelligence theory as well. so the idea of an evolving assessment is something that seems according to these republicans to be in contrast with what they have been saying today. of course, susan rice did acknowledge the essence of what she was conveying about a protest was incorrect and certainly that is a message they want to get out. upping the ante as chris said, this is also by focusing

attention on someone a close ally of the president possibly his next nominee to be secretary of state by putting so much pressure there, it's a way to leverage getting more information about the broader investigation into what happened in benghazi. these senators have put a real focus on the fact that there had been warnings from stevens himself, the ambassador killed, and others about security threats which they say would lead you to believe more likely than not it was an act of terror right away as opposed to a -- some sort of demonstration. so they're concerned that those sort of warning signals were not properly looked at in advance of this, regardless of what was said on television on those round of interviews that got so much attention. but why were those warning signs from the libyan officials on the ground, u.s. officials in libya, why were those not taken more seriously perhaps or addressed in a different way. so part of all this attention is that kind of leverage. andrea? >> that's, of course, what is going to come up at confirmation hearings if she is nominated as

the president we are told really wishes to follow up on. that is going to be the focus, part of the focus, of the nomination and confirmation hearings and another warning shot today from lindsey graham, look at what he had to say about a previous confirmational battle one that the republicans lost. >> well, i remember the john bolton episode pretty well. our democratic friends felt like that john boltton didn't have the information needed to make an decision about john bolten to be ambassador and democrats dug in their heels saying we're not going to vote, not going to consider this nomination until we get basic answers to our concerns. all i can tell you is that concerns i have are greater today than they were before. >> interestingly enough, i mean john bolton was not confirmed and was a recess appointee and that certainly was a big sticking point with republicans. but chris cizilla, jay carney at

the white house briefing has just said basically that this focus on the benghazi comments on sunday television some might call it an obsession seems to me be to misplaced. i'm not sure he wants it to be placed over the state department on why they didn't ask for more security before the events in benghazi. >> andrea, i feel like we're talking as though susan rice has been nominated. certainly the appearance by the three republican senators this morning seemed like a groundwork laying of, as you know, the argument they would make against her confirmation. but she hasn't. we know what we know is that the white house would like her to be secretary of state, is interested in it. we have president obama's very strong defense of had her at his press conference last week. beyond that, we really don't have all that much. i would note something and want to give credit where it is due, mark murray, the deputy political director, pointed it out, saw it on twitter, we focus

on ayotte, graham and mccain but remember, democrats may not need those three votes to confirm susan rice if she is put forward. they need probably five to seven republicans, maybe they can find them elsewhere. i'm not saying that i know that for a fact, but let's not assume that even if the three of them are opposed that she could never be confirmed. >> they can block it by using a hold. >> any one of them can. >> yeah. >> yeah, kelly. this is not the kind of confirmation you want to send your top diplomat out. that's not the launch pad for a successful tenure as secretary of state. and, of course, waiting in the wings, john kerry, who we understand the white house will nominate to be defense secretary. i'm told he would accept that post even though he would prefer to be secretary of state. we've got to go but thank you very much. chris cizilla, kelly o'donnell. joining me now is ambassador nicolas burns, former undersecretary of state and ambassador to nato, now with the john f. kennedy school of government at harvard. nick we've been through this

before, seen confirmation hearings go off kilter. this is not getting a great start. >> and it's a shame, andrea, because i think these charges against ambassador rice, i don't find convincing. she was simply representing the viewpoint of an entire administration and many of us have been in positions of defending administration's republican and democrat in the past, i have, where you're not out there, you know, just trumpeting your own personal views. you're relying on a collective judgment made ats the state department, the white house, the cia and other places, and she was merely the person representing the position that day. so i don't think it's fair to hold her responsible. you know, she's a very effective highly intelligent person who by all accounts has been a very good ambassador to the united nations and there's so many issues, andrea, that confront the united states from the global economic recession to the afghan war to iran and north korea to the arab revolutions to what's happening in egypt today, i really think that those are

the issues that ought to be in front of our congress as well as our administration officials. >> nick, what do you think is going on? this seems to be a proxy war? >> well, it does. it does. i mean, obviously there are a lot of unanswered questions about benghazi and i've certainly believe that members of congress in both parties have a right and responsibility to asks those questions, but there are official commissions that will soon speak to those very questions. there's the commission headed by ambassador pickering and chairman mike mullen, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, other by the u.s. government. these investigations have been done in a deliberate, comprehensive way and we will soon know what their findings are. i think it's better for us as a collective here in the united states, to wait for those commissions and not rush to judgment and not be unfair to a very fine public servant in susan rice. >> and let me just share with our audience and you what senator mccain said just after that session on capitol hill

with susan rice. he went to the newseum for a package discussion on syria and this is one of his offhanded remarks. >> but i believe in american leadership, i believe in the greatness of america, i believe that this president can lead. i believe that his secretary of state, whoever that might be, can also lead. >> john mccain's humor, we understand, but he was certainly treating this as though it is very much in play. of course, as we point out, the president has not nominated her, but we understand all of our reporting and colleague's reporting he would like to nominate her to be secretary of state. can she try to -- can they try to ram this through? >> well, you know, the president has a right to nominate the person he thinks is best for all these positions and andrea, as you know, there may be vacancies in four or five key positions in his administration. so he has to make the best judgment for that. i would just hope that all

members of congress would give any nominee, obviously, due consideration. and today ambassador rice is being asked lots of questions and she -- i thought she made the right decision. she took the initiative, the administration did, to have her go up to capitol hill. that's the right position. and as long as the administration is open about what's been happening in benghazi with the investigation, then i think the facts will come out and we'll wait for these official commission -- alluded problems that will face whoever becomes secretary of state in this term, iran front and center today, i think the associated press reporting that a country hostile to iran and suspicious of its nuclear intentions has shared a nuclear diagram supposedly a diagram obtained by this other country's intelligence services of iranian scientists that have made a dangerous weapon diagram at least that would produce more

than triple the explosive force of the bomb that went off in hiroshima. of course we can infer from this could likely be the israeli intelligence service. what do we know about iran right now? we have the nuclear concerns, the fact that there are suspicions iran is continuing to try to arm the hamas militants in gaza, despite the cease-fire and we don't know whether egypt is going to monitor that and protect those tunnels from being penetrated again? what is iran's role in all of this? >> andrea, i have not seen the report to which you just referred but we do know, because of the public reports made by the iaea over the last couple weeks, that iran continues its efforts to enrich uranium and drive towards a nuclear weapons capability. i believe this will be the number one national security challenge that the united states faces in the next 12 months. i do think that president obama's instinct to try to see if iran is amenable to negotiations is the right one

because that will tell us whether or not iran is serious about stopping short of a nuclear weapon, whether they can live with -- well live without a nuclear weapon and be live within their international obligations. but iran faces -- does pose other challenges and you mentioned them, they've been supplying these rockets to hamas, supplying very sophisticated rocket technology to hezbollah. this poses an enormous security threat to israel. we've seen that play out in gaza. so there are a lot of issues before the administration. many, many very serious, but none bigger than iran in stopping them sort of a nuclear weapon is a very urgent national priority. >> nicolas burns, thank you very much. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. and still ahead, trying not to fall off that cliff. we have it all covered with white house economic adviser alan krueger, democratic congressman elijah cummings and later house republican tom price. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ♪

i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios go ahead, mark your calendars. tend to weigh less than those who don't. it's the last day you can switch your medicare part d plan. we're ready, and we can't wait to switch. [ male announcer ] make the switch to an aarp medicarerx plan, insured through unitedhealthcare. open enrollment starts october 15th and ends december 7th. call now for a free information kit. discover why these part d plans are so popular. what i wanted was simple: the most value for my dollar. so, now that it's time, we're making the move to a plan that really works for us. plus, we'll be covered at like 60,000 pharmacies. [ male announcer ] call now and get predictable copays and plans with no deductible. you can start saving with your first prescription. aarp medicarerx plans include nearly all the drugs covered by medicare part d, so why wait. call now. [ man ] december 7th is coming. i'm glad we're switching.

[ male announcer ] call now, ask about the lowest part d premium in the u.s. aarp medicarerx plans insured through unitedhealthcare. call today. ♪ i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine to relieve your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save $1 visit alka-seltzer on facebook.

the white house is continuing to warn of dire consequences for the middle class if congress does not strike a deal to avert painful tax hikes. joining me is the chairman of the white house council of economic advisors alan krueger. thank you for being with us. let's talk about your report yesterday on the economic consequences. you reported that i think the slowdown of growth would be something like 1.7% in 2013, that consumers would spend $200 billion less. what are the other impacts that you think could be realized if there is no deal on the fiscal cliff? >> that's right, andrea. we looked at what would happen if the middle-class tax cuts are not extended. the typical middle-class family

with two children would see a $2200 tax increase next year if the tax cuts are not extended. that will hit their pocketbook. that would reduce consumption by 1.7 percentage points and reduce gdp growth by 1.4 percentage points and would be a big hit to retailers. we calculate that about $200 billion less would be spent next year than would otherwise be the case if the tax cuts for the middle class are not extended. and just to put that in perspective, that's about four times as much as spent over black friday weekend. >> why isn't there more action? we don't see the leaders coming to the hill, we don't see any meetings. what is going on perhaps behind the scenes because mitch mcconnell, among others, critics of the president, of course, were saying where is the presidential engagement. why is he going out to the public and continuing a political campaign to drum up support and not engaging one on one, meeting with the leaders again? >> well, the president has been very much engaged in these

issues and he's been engaged for the last several years. he's made it clear he wants balanced solution to our problems, a balance between additional revenues collected from the most fortunate the top 2% of income earners as well as balance in terms of reductions in spending. >> what do you think of warren buffett's proposal for a minimum income tax on high earners for people who are now paying so much less, paying what mitt romney paid, paying what warren buffett pays, 14 or 16%, because of capital gains and other investments, what about a minimum tax that would require them to pay 35%? >> the president has supported the buffet principle for a long time and his state of the union address last year, he supported buffet rule which would set a minimum tax for those who are the most wealthy. but we have a set of problems we need to address. and this requires a

comprehensive solution and most importantly, we need to collect additional revenue from the most fortunate which includes raising tax rates to where they were during the clinton years. >> similarly, what about revisiting simpson-bowles? a lot of people are talking about the framework, a lot of work has been done, are there means testing, further means testing of medicare, for instance, or other kinds of delayed medicare enactment, you know, sliding the age, for instance, kicks in other ways to try to down the road at least realize some real money? >> well, i think the best solution would be one that not only raises additional revenue, but also brings our spending under control and if you look at where spending growth is the strongest and what's going to cause the biggest problems down the line it tends to be in health care spending. >> thank you very much. alan krueger. we look forward to the next round of negotiations.

. >> thanks. >> what cuts are house democrats willing to accept? congressman elijah cummings joins us next on "andrea mitchell reports." >> time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. christine wants you to shop small. the owner of wonder works a charlton, south carolina, based toy store believes in cooperation instead of competition. she has a section dedicated to locally made products to make sure her customers' dollars stay local. for more watch your business sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. this holiday, share everything.

share "not even close." share "you owe me..." share "just right." the share everything plan.

shareable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. get a droid incredible 4g lte by htc for $49.99. the president plans to hit the road next week to drum up support for his own personal approach to the short and long-term fiscal challenges we face. in other words, rather than sitting down with lawmakers of both parties and working out an agreement, he's back on the campaign trail, presumably with the same talking points we're quite familiar with. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell criticizing the president for trying to drum up public support for his budget priorities. elijah cummings serves on the joint economic committee and joins me from the white house. let's talk about the fiscal cliff negotiations. what negotiations? what's happening behind the scenes? >> first of all, i just heard what mr. mcconnell said. and i just left the president. one of the things that he said

to us, he said, don't pack up your bags. in other words, he's determined to get this deal done and get it done before the end of the year. the fact is, the president is very much engaged but he also understands that one of the things he's got to do is get a balanced package done. he's got to have revenue and he's also got to have some very targeted cuts. so -- and he also is trying to get across the point that republicans and democrats agree that those folks making less than $250,000, their tax cuts should be extended. so, again, we've got a situation now where the republicans can stand on the sideline or they can adhere to what the public has said in this election. they want us to get the deal done and move forward. at least we can get done what we already agree on. >> would you agree, auwould you and other house democrats agree

in some ways that the cpi is calculated, which almost every economist believes ought to be fixed which would save a lot of money? and also some changes in health care and perhaps delaying medicare for future generations? would you agree and more means testing of medicare? >> i am concerned very much concerned about medicare and the fact is, is that people on medicare, many in my district, they are already in dire straits and the question is, is whether we can address the issues of medicare by improving it. i believe very strongly that one of the things we can do is start negotiating these drug prices, andrea. that's something we definitely can do. but i think we're going to have to be very, very careful with medicare. when you're talking about things like extending the age, look at that because a lot of people don't work in air conditioned offices and have an easy life and so they become ill earlier than others. so we've got to be careful with

that. so again, i think a lot has already been done by this president, when he opened the door in the affordable care act to make sure we have wellness exams and mammograms and things of that nature for our seniors to make sure they stay well, but again, i want our republican friends to get off this thing talking about no increase in tax rates, while at the same time wanting those who are most vulnerable in our society to have their benefits lessened. >> congressman, i understand this is a negotiation, no one wants to show their hand too soon. some senate republicans have shown give on the tax side and i acknowledge house republicans have been behind the scenes on this, they have not been as forthcoming about the tax side. but are house democrats willing to show some give on health care and other issues, at least for the wealthier in our society? i'm not talking about many who

live in your district and are really hurting. >> i think one of the major concerns is that when you start say means testing something like medicare, one of the things that happens is that it becomes less popular among the general populace. that we've got to be careful about. i think we've got to take a careful approach. i think we have to look at medicare, find out where savings can be had, and -- but i do not want to see the basic structure of medicare being tampered with like ryan was talking about doing before we -- before the presidential election. we could do better than that. by the way, i think that again, medicare and social security, i think needs to be set on the side. those things need to be addressed carefully. we need to look at other things. what about the money that we're giving farmers to not even farm and i could go on and on. there are things we can do. targeted cuts, cuts that will

not damage our economy, but allow our economy to grow and allow our seniors to live a life of dignity. >> as you said in quoting the president, don't pack your bags. thank you very much. >> don't pack your bags. that's the last thing he said to us. >> congressman cummings, thanks for that. >> thank you. >> and still ahead, we'll get the take on all this from house republicans. we'll talk to house republican policy chair tom price and up next, we'll go to cairo where thousands of anti-morsi protesters are back in tahrir square. new jersey governor chris christie makes it official. now we know he's running for re-election but what are his plans for 2016? [ male announcer ] considering all your mouth goes through, do you really think brushing is enough to keep it clean? while brushing misses germs in 75% of your mouth, listerine® cleans virtually your entire mouth. so take your oral health to a whole new level. listerine®... power to your mouth™. so take your oral health to a whole new level. [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood

could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk.

to come home for the holidays. that's double miles you can actually use... sadly, their brother's white christmas just got "blacked out." [ brother ] but it's the family party! really jingles your bells, doesn't it? my gift to you! the capital one venture card! for any flight, any time! that's double miles you can actually use! how illuminating. what's in your wallet? let me guess, am i on the naughty list again? ho ho ho! topping the headlines on "andrea mitchell reports" terrible news from mexico. a mexican mayor whose husband was killed by the drug cartel and she survived two assassination attempts has been murdered. she was kidnapped earlier this

month, badly beaten body was found a week later. 36-year-old was known for taking a hard line against drug cartels in her city. part of a 213 foot crane has caught fire and collapseden to a university building in sydney, australia, shooting flames 32 feet into the air. hundreds evacuated, no one was injured. the same company owns the crane that collapsed, you're right, in new york city during super storm sandy. dairy farmers angry over low milk prices soaked riot police were thousands of gallon lons of milk in brussels. the farmers rolled into the city on tractors. and scary video, this a car crashing through a jewelry store barely missing 16-month-old toddler who had just past the point of impact. the store owner ran across to make sure his son was all right. the child was thrown three feet in the air and landed safely out of harm's way.

the driver accidentally crashed her car into the store while coming in to pick up her jewelry. despite backing down on his controversial decrees egypt's president mohamed morsi faced another day of upheaval. huge crowds gathering in tahrir square and police crashed in the streets of cairo, scenes reminiscent of the revolution nearly two years ago. ayman mohyeldin has the latest. is this calming down at all, ayman? he made some concessions so there was a thought, perhaps, from morsi supporters that the protesters would begin to back down. doesn't seem so. >> well, you know, when we've been speaking to the people here in tahrir square and it boils down to an issue of trust. everyone here behind me will tell you they don't trust president mohamed morsi and the muslim brotherhood. they've experienced their rule in parliament and as a president and don't trust the words of the president. that's what we saw last night,

president mohamed morsi coming out with a decree or statement following the decree controversial on thursday, came out after meeting with some of the judges saying he was going to use his new powers narrowly. the people think this is an attempt by the president and muslim brotherhood to take control of not only the presidency but all institutions of the country and circumvent the judiciary. that's why people behind me have gathered in the tens of thousands, still protesting. the numbers are still in the thousands. not just here in cairo but in cities across the country. the scenes are reminiscent of egypt's revolution two years ago. a lot of secular and liberal forces behind me. this is a rarity. it's rare to see secular and liberal forces coming out in the thousands united by this call against the muslim brotherhood. for their part the muslim brotherhood which enjoys a great deal of popularity and support they canceled a rival protest scheduled today. they say they did it for the safety of egypt. didn't want any clashes or confrontations like the ones we've seen over the past five days.

andrea? >> ayman mohyeldin in cairo. e eight years after yasser arafat's death in a hospital, lingering questions about whether he was poisoned was put to the tett. had his body was exhumed from his mausoleum, tissue samples were taken. martin fletcher is back from ramallah and joins me from tel av aviv. what is the continuing concern here? is this rooted in real suspicion and do the french agree with this now as well? >> well, andrea, certainly rooted in real suspicion but that has been rife among palestinians since arafat died eight years ago. they're convinced he was murdered, not a natural death and where would the finger point but at israel. so israel by the way denies it. why would we kill arafat. we didn't kim him when we were at war with him when we had chances to. why would we when not fighting.

the question of the polonium poisoning came from an al jazeera report this year which they did an investigation with technicians in switzerland and found high traces what they called high traces of radioactive polonium-210 on arafat's belongings on hats and a toothbrush his wife suha kept in her possession. they examined it and that's what they found. that's led to this -- to the exhuming of the body to the investigation and now, specimens of his remains are going to be sent to three labs, separate investigations in russia, switzerland and france where they will be investigating looking for traces of polonium or any other kinds of poison. to answer that question, how did arafat die? because there was never any public report of his medical report. his wife kept it secret. no one knows what really led to his death although they know he had a stroke. that's the issue, how did he die? the suspicion is, he was poisoned. the fingers pointed at israel. now maybe we'll find out. the scientists it will take them

about three months before they have their results. israel's convinced they'll find natural causes. sorry. >> i was just saying, you and i remember, you better than anyone, from being there, and i remember covering the funeral, that there had been a lot of talk about arafat's being ill, his weakness, about his leadership, but it really is fascinating that in the intervening years and intervening eight years, the palestinians have divided between hamas and fatah more critically and really is a vacuum of leadership. >> no, that's right. no, you and i were at the funeral together, i remember it well. there is a vacuum of leadership -- what a day it was, absolutely. what a frenzy of mourning. it was amazing in those scenes at the time. yeah, you know there's a vacuum of leadership in one sense, hamas -- the split is what counts among the palestinians since then. hamas, of course, is completely taken over the gaza trip and has strong support in the west bank and the west bank is also by the

way a strong leader in the west bank in terms of keeping his leadership position. by the way, we'll see on thursday when he goes to the united nations to try to win support for his application for observer status, nonmember observer status at the u.n. the same way hamas scored a victory among palestinians by fighting israel. that will be an equivalent kind of victory for abu mazen if the u.n. votes in the palestinians' favor. all signs as you know well, they will. >> in fact, the french joined the supporters of that and, of course, the u.s. will either abstain or figure some other way to not take a position on it. thank you very much. martin fletcher, good to see you. and after weeks of speculation surrounding the future of the republican party, in new jersey, chris christie made it official he is, indeed, running for re-election. >> i have a job to finish that i never anticipated six weeks ago having. and i just don't believe it would be right for me to leave

now and i don't want to leave. i don't want to leave this job with this having happened to our state. >> joining me now is politico's senior political reporter lois romano. i don't think there was doubt he was going to run for re-election, but look at his latest poll ratings since the storm since sandy he's up to 77% approval. >> well -- not only that -- >> extraordinary in the latest polls. >> killing cory booker who is looking at, you know, before the storm was looking at maybe running for governor and now leading cory booker by 30 points. he's riding the wave. and he's trying to position himself as an outlier after the republicans' terrible loss. he's bipartisan. he's leader. he's out there. so he's trying to take advantage. he's also using some of president obama's lines, which i have a job to finish. you know, i have to finish this job. i can't go anywhere. >> and also in the 2016 talk right now, jeb bush, in washington, meeting with the

pollster for highly regarded pollster for mitt romney, and not dousing speculation that he would consider a presidential run. >> no. he's encouraging speculation saying -- he's also having an education conference here. he's made some steps to raise his profile. but again, he's another possible candidate that's saying i'm a little bit of an outlier here. all through the campaign, maybe anticipating that romney was going to lose, he was saying, i'm out of step with the party on immigration. i'm the person that was embracing latinos. and, of course, you had governor christie embracing president obama before the election. so you have two guys that are saying, yeah, that's kind of an outdated party there. you know, start looking at me now. >> in fact, jeb bush has a good reputation in florida, on education. he has worked really hard on it since leaving office? and with latinos and married to a latina. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> great to see you. up next, cliff talks with

republican congressman tom price. is grover over? this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. so i never missed a beat. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

no budget deal between president obama and congressional leaders will survive if it can't get support from house republicans. key players, georgia congressman tom price chair of the house republican policy committee and joins me now. congressman, thanks very much. there's been a lot of talk among senators recently republican senators have said that they are over grover norquist and the no tax pledge, that pledge doesn't obtain anymore because the situation has changed. peter king said the same on "meet the press." what say you about the norquist pledge? you're a signatory. >> i really am surprised about the obsession with this one individual that doesn't compare at all to the lack of obsession about the economic doldrums that we're in as a nation.

look, people didn't sign that pledge because they were coerced into it. people signed that pledge because it encompasses the kinds of solutions that will move us in the right direction. increasing tax rates on the american people and on small businesses means you take money from people, money from small businesses, and you transfer it to the government. we don't believe that that's the wise place to do that. we believe that those dollars are best spent and the economy is helped most when those dollars are left in people's pockets and small businesses. so why folks would negotiate with themselves about whether or not they still think that that's a positive economic principle, is beyond me. >> well, presuming that you can get a balanced approach which what is the president wants, which means real cuts and real revenue, are you willing to go against the no tax pledge if you have the kinds of cuts that you want to see on the domestic side? >> what you just described isn't against the pledge. and what we haven't seen from the president are his spending

reductions. so, we've got revenue side and spending side. >> i've interviewed grover norquist, with all due respect, he said no tax increases period, not if ands or buts if you get cuts. that's what his pledge means, as far as the way he interprets it and he interprets it is the way that some primary opponents to yourself would interpret it presumably if you face that down the road? >> well, look, increasing tax rates is not wise. increasing tax rates destroys jobs, 700,000 jobs. the president's plan would destroy 700,000 jobs, according to earnest and young not according to tom price or republicans and you can gain revenue closing loopholes, capping deductions, capping credits so you can lower the rates for individuals, broaden the base and then address the spending. again which the president has refused to address. he refuses to identify where he would make spending reductions. a revenue side, yes, pro growth policies help the most and then increasing tax revenue through capping deductions, credits,

closing those loopholes, lowering those rates, broadening the base and a spending side which has to address of necessity, medicare, medicaid and social security that are currently on a path under the president's plan for insolvency. >> there are reliable studies that show you can't cap enough can't cap enough deductions and level the playing field enough to raise the kind of revenue you need. we're talking about a trillion and a half dollars here. >> you know well, andrea, that the president's plan to increase taxes on the upper 2% covers the spending by this federal government not for eight years, not for eight months, not for eight days or eight weeks but for eight days. eight days only. it's not a real solution. so, again, i'm puzzled by an administration that seems to be more interested in raising tack rates than in gaining economic vitality. >> congressman tom price. the president told one of your colleagues a bit ago at the white house today is don't pack your bags. that might be good advice for

all of us. thanks very much. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next right here on "andrea mitchell reports."

which political story will made med lines in the next 24 hours. there's going to be a visit at the white house tomorrow. >> yeah. andrea, we're so focused and rightly so on fiscal cliff and benghazi, but immigration and what reform and what this election told us about the republicans' problems with hispanics, an important visit tomorrow. the president-elect of mexico to meet with president obama. he called him earlier in month to con the gragratulate him the victory. he will also meet with congressional leaders. the fiscal cliff is looming pending whatever words you want to use to get it done, but the new congress, republicans know immigration reform is a priority. let's see what comes out of that meeting tomorrow. i would assume the mexican president will push president

obama to get it done. president obama wants to get it done. he wants to keep the sort of onus on republicans to get something done. that, i think, will focus us a little bit on immigration reform, maybe a slight move off the fiscal cliff for a few hours tomorrow. >> in fact, i think the meeting actually starts this afternoon, so i misspoke on that. they might have wanted not to it talk about the drug war, but they have this horrible assassination now of the death of the mayor a fighter against the cartel and already lost her husband. it goes on. >> absolutely. i would say, andrea, always with these meetings you get to talk about what you want to talk about and also things you don't want to talk about. let's see what comes out of it when they greet the cameras and what they have to say. my guess is we'll hear some talk about immigration and the need to reform it. >> a lot of people hope for a new chapter between the two countries. a much more intense relationship. thank you very much, chris. that does it for this edition of

"andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow on the show, honeywell international chairman and ceo david cody, democratic senator john tester and politico's mike allen. tamron hall with a look at what's next on "news nation." >> next hour we are following big breaking news right now. senator joe lieberman is meeting with ambassador susan rice hours after she met with mccain, ayotte and graham. we have new reaction. plus a live report from capitol hill and joel reuben will joan me coming up. president obama takes a page from his election success by using the power of the people when it comes to the fiscal cliff. we have the latest on the president's plan to take his message on the fiscal cliff negotiations right to the public. [ female announcer ] you can make macaroni & cheese without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one

from stouffer's. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! ♪ is bigger than we think ... sometimelike the flu.fer from with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so don't wait. call your doctor right away. tamiflu is prescription medicine for treating the flu in adults and children one year and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing. have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately.

children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion or abnormal behavior. the most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. the flu comes on fast, so ask your doctor about tamiflu. prescription for flu.

with his wife, danielle, almost every weekend. derrell hasn't been able to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ shirley ] things are sometimes a little tight around the house. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since derrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you, too. i'm tamron hall. e